


but if I fall for you, I'll never recover

by Del (goddessdel)



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Takes place during 7B for the Doctor, Young!River
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 21:14:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3502997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddessdel/pseuds/Del
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I've gone into a tiny box with a strange man - they know exactly what I'm doing."</p>
            </blockquote>





	but if I fall for you, I'll never recover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [savvyliterate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/gifts), [heavenisalibrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenisalibrary/gifts).



> Written: 3/16/14-3/5/15
> 
> Shamelessly inspired by Pam and Alyssa (my common-law fic-wife of the same mind).
> 
> Wishing the happiest of (belated) birthdays to the lovely Megs (only a week late! That's practically almost on time, right?!). Because nothing says happy birthday like smut.
> 
> Thanks to Becs and Beverly for the lightening-fast betas! All remaining errors are my own.
> 
> All references to Ikarra are oblique references to Babylon 5, which everyone should watch because I love that show so hard, okay!?
> 
> HOW DID THIS TAKE ME A YEAR TO WRITE?! Oy, vey.
> 
> Title: From Maroon 5 "Love Somebody"

The moment he emerged from the TARDIS, he knew she was there. Even if he hadn't long ago attuned his senses to pick up the faintest whiff of her perfume or the soft drumbeat of her hearts, the wild magic of her hair always called to him.

  
It was all he could see of her - bent over some dig site and nearly buried with whatever artifact she was painstakingly uncovering.

 

The Doctor grinned and tasted the air as he strode toward his wife. "Ikarra VII in the 51st century? This planet has been dead and abandoned for four thousand years. And there won't be anything interesting to see for another four thousand, at that. What have you got for me this time, River Song, or was this just an excuse to muck about in the dirt?"

 

River's head popped up and swiveled toward him; she was biting her lip, an adorable (but baffling) flush spreading across her cheeks.

 

When four other heads popped out of the hole, three gaping and one scowling, the Doctor began to feel wrong-footed. The Scowler turned to River and demanded, "Who - what is the meaning of this?!"

 

"It's all right, Professor - this is a... friend... of mine. He volunteered to be one of the chaperones for our trip. He's just a little late, is all. I'll just go catch him up, shall I?"

 

The Doctor was left frozen, scratching awkwardly at his cheek and trying not to look nearly as flummoxed as he felt. He opened his mouth, but then River scrambled out of the pit and headed straight for him, and the Doctor found himself struck momentarily mute.

 

Hastily tucking her arm through his, River dragged the Doctor back through the TARDIS doors before his temporary paralysis could fade. Once the doors clicked impenetrably shut, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leant in to whisper conspiratorially, "I'm going to get in such trouble for inviting you."

 

The Doctor found his hands settling against River's waist against his will. He fiddled with the thin material of her cotton vest, already damp and clinging to her. Gulping and mentally chastising himself, the Doctor endeavored to keep his focus on her face and his hands still. "Oh?"

 

_Very intelligent, Doctor_ , he congratulated himself. But really - what did his wife expect of him when she was wearing - _well_. He swallowed again, struggling to concentrate on River's explanation.

 

"My professor is worried about someone scooping us. It took him ages to get the permissions to come out here - something about a curse - doesn't that sound delightful? You'll have to pretend to be one of the university chaperones, but I couldn't resist. I'm not technically allowed on digs until next term, so of course I convinced them to let me on anyway. All alone on a dead world - well, mostly alone - and solving the mystery of what killed the Ikarrans? It was too perfect to resist."

 

River leant impossibly closer, clearly delighted with herself, and the Doctor had to give his mind a very stern lecture on why he should be piecing together what she was saying rather than giving in to the feel of her pressed up against him, warm from the double suns and wearing only the most miniscule of apparel - the cotton vest that was riding too low for his sanity, a small backpack that no doubt contained both a trowel and her blaster, and - most detrimental to his mental state - very, very short khaki shorts.

 

The Doctor took a quick breath - a mistake with River so close that he was practically breathing her in - and tried once again to focus. What was this about - a professor and terms and... _Oh, not good._ The Doctor made to jump away from her, but with River wrapped around him he only succeeded in stumbling back into the console and bringing them both crashing to the floor, with River somehow managing to end up in his lap. _Very, very not good_.

 

This must have been her first expedition. It explained the blush and the professor and even the - he gulped again - shorts. This was a very, very young version of his wife. Probably too young for him to be nearly this close too. A very young version of his wife wearing very little. He flailed, grasping about for a distraction and fighting not to grasp River.

 

"Well, shouldn't you be getting back to your dig, dear? And I'll just... chaperone?"

 

River laughed, bouncing in a way that was not remotely innocent as she shook her hair out of her face. "You don't have the faintest clue what that means, do you, Doctor?" She shifted closer, her hair tickling his nose as she continued, "You're supposed to... watch me."

 

His eyes made a completely traitorous scan of her body and River grinned at him as though she was going to eat him right up. His hands were back at her waist. He should move them. And her. "Watch you," he echoed, voice coming out low and scratchy.

 

River's breasts were pressed up against him, her bare thighs warm over his. "Mmm. And try to keep me out of trouble." River squeezed even closer, her hot breath ghosting over his ear, "Not that you'll succeed."

 

The Doctor's fingers twitched over her back, aching to pull her closer still. But he didn't know when they were yet; only that it was very, very early. Too early for that, certainly. River was just teasing him, expecting him to blush and pull away. Which he was going to do - pull away that is - any second. "I never do," he grumbled, but it came out gruff instead of harsh. The Doctor cleared his throat and tried again, squeaking only faintly as River wiggled closer. "We should get you back to your classmates, then. They'll be wondering what you're doing."

 

River smirked, shifting very deliberately on his lap and arching into him when his hands tightened around her. "I've gone into a tiny box with a strange man - they know exactly what I'm doing."

 

"It's not a snog box, River!" His hearts were racing in his ears, his indignation short-lived and all but a token protest, his trousers tight and hips tilting up into hers helplessly.

 

"Oh, she absolutely is, Doctor." And her mouth pressed against his - open to refute her claim - quite decidedly.

 

The Doctor normally prided himself on keeping his head in high pressure situations. Give him a murderous army breathing down his neck and his brain could easily concoct some improbable -but viable - escape route. Unfortunately, when snogging River Song, his considerable mind was generally completely incapacitated - rendered utterly useless the instant River's hot mouth opened against his, her tongue sweeping in to take control. There was nothing that mattered but her in these moments: the feel and taste of her; the pleased little sounds she made; the weight of her body over his.

 

Consequently, he was left in something of a daze when River finally paused for breath with a contented hum. She licked at her lips and eyed him through heavy lids in a predatory way that made the Doctor's insides do little flips.

 

He shoved one hand in the miniscule space left between them and carefully rescued his battered old diary from his breast pocket, flipping to somewhere that looked like the beginning because he could already recite the handful of times he'd seen her in university by hearts. "Right. Um. So - where are we then?"

 

"We're snogging in the TARDIS," River huffed, reaching behind her to extract her diary from her pack. "I don't see why we have to do this every time. You already know where I am - my first doctoral term at Luna - and I know you're older," she rolled her hips against his to distract him, "because you've got the flashy purple coat, which means we've already tried to kill Hitler and you know who I am."

 

His hearts lurched uncomfortably at the sight of crisp white pages and a spotless blue cover. It was enough to keep him on task, even if his voice squeaked slightly as he tried to hold River still. "Spoilers," he frowned. "And we didn't try to kill Hitler."

 

River pondered that, thoughtful but devious. "True. It would have been easy enough if either of us had put any effort at all in. I was a bit busy killing you at the time. Oh well, we'll just have to make a date of it."

 

"River!" the Doctor chastised, horrified. "We are not killing Hitler! Eh - not that we're protecting him, but - timelines, and really, you can't just go willy-nilly killing every mass murderer, and didn't we have this discussion the first time?"

 

Thankfully, she cut him off with another brilliant kiss that sent all his revisited moral quandaries - and unpleasant thoughts of Hitler - scattering.

 

When they parted, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "And the way I remember it, you were too busy saving me."

 

"Mmm," River ducked her head to hide the small, pleased smile he knew was there, nominally flipping through the beginning of her diary. "Lucky for you that I like flirting with you too much to let you die, sweetie." She turned a handful of pages. "Have you watched the Earth-set from Luna, yet?" He shook his head and she skimmed the pages backwards. This young, she wrote in such vivid detail, each of their encounters spanning several pages. "The Gunpowder Plot of 1605?"

 

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, hiding a relieved smile. "As I recall, it wasn't until you got involved that treason came up."

 

Unrepentant, River grinned, "Just livening things up, sweetie." She squirmed against him in a very lively manner indeed, tucking her own diary away with a stretch that arched her breasts against his chest and caused her vest to ride up, leaving his fingers resting against the soft warmth of her skin.

 

Tearing his eyes from her breasts and hands from her hips, the Doctor followed suit, carefully closing the cracked spine of his own, scratched and burnt diary. He caught River's eyes lingering curiously over the cover before he hurriedly tucked it away, his turn to avoid her eyes. "You always do."

 

River was too young. He'd promised himself (and her parents, though his mind shied away from thoughts of the Ponds resolutely) that he would give River time to find herself and choose her own path. He'd known even as he said it that he was lying. That the temptation of getting to know River when she was just discovering herself would eventually be too much to resist. He'd just meant to check in on her here and there, to see how her studies were going, and make sure she stayed out of too much trouble.

 

He'd not counted on how very hard it would be to resist his wife when she was utterly determined to tumble him into bed with her. River made it very clear early on that her chosen path included him, and she would track him down if he tried to stay away. And, as far as she was concerned - she had said - they were practically engaged already.

 

Even in her early university days, when she was more Mels than River, he could see flashes of the woman who would collapse time to avoid killing him again. It was terrifying and awe-inspiring and left him weak in the knees. He could never find the words to express the depths of his feelings for River - thousands of diary pages barely managed to scratch the surface - but watching her fall in love with him made him fall all the harder in return.

 

It also made it exceedingly difficult to remember that he was still trying - belatedly and not actually all that successfully - to take things slowly. He wanted to take River on grand adventures and surprise her on digs and court her properly. Things they never got to when they ended up shagging against the console.

 

Making a strangled sound, the Doctor stroked his hands up River's arms and back down, trying to shift her weight off of him without accidentally shifting them more intimately together. "Wasn't there a mysterious curse to solve?"

 

River pouted, biting at her swollen lips. When she saw that the Doctor was indomitable, she sighed and unclasped her arms from around his neck, levering herself off him with a huff and narrowed eyes. "It had better be a proper curse and not a hoax or else I'm going to be quite cross."

 

The Doctor scrambled to his feet before River changed her mind, clasping his hands protectively over his trousers and hoping it would not be too obvious what they had been up to. The TARDIS was _not_ a snog box and he was _not_ going to spin River around and shag her against the instrument panel.

 

The TARDIS made a snickering sound and the Doctor scowled, mentally telling his ship to shut it.

 

River was already at the door, evidently in a hurry to get the mystery of Ikarra good and solved. "Coming, Doctor?" Her eyes were on the Doctor's clasped hands and her smirk was positively filthy.

 

Busy countering his racing pulse with theoretical quantum vortex maths, the Doctor was caught by surprise when River reached out and grabbed his wrist before pushing open the TARDIS doors, leaving the Doctor only one hand to cover himself with and not enough maths problems in the universe.

  
River strode out of the box, tossing her curls and grinning, her grip on his wrist firm enough that he had no choice but to follow. "Sorry for the interruption," she didn't sound the slightest bit sorry. "I just had to help Professor Smith get a _feel_ for his duties."

 

Her professor looked nonplussed, so the Doctor risked waving awkwardly at the expedition party. He freed his wrist from River's grip, pasted on his biggest smile, and leapt into the pit. "Hello, I'm the - er - Professor Smith. What do we have here - a buried structure?" He bent to examine the exposed foundations and collapsed walls, suddenly uneasy about being on Ikarra. "Oh, of course. No one has gone inside yet, have they?"

 

The professor goggled at the Doctor, wiping sweat off his brow with a dirt-streaked hand before responding. "Of course not - there are university to protocols to observe. We can't do anything without the proper chaperones," he scowled again for good measure.

 

River breezed between them, bumping the Doctor's hip with hers in a way that would have been believably accidental if the Doctor didn't know exactly how graceful River was. "I'm sure Professor Smith was just double-checking, Professor Hendricks." She smiled disarmingly and resumed her place among the other students, who were engrossed in their work. "I'll just get back to exposing the foundation, shall I?"

 

Apparently Professor Hendricks was as susceptible to River's charm as everyone else. He nodded distractedly, grumbled, "Keep out of the way, would you - you've almost stood on the stone," at the Doctor, and bent back to his work brushing dust and sand off of a jagged fragment of what was probably a door.

 

The Doctor settled in on a dusty rock and watched them work. Well, he watched River. And she took every opportunity to abuse that fact, pointedly giving him the best views of her bum in those tiny, maddening shorts, and several rather blatant views down her vest. Her breasts were golden tan and slick in the light of the suns, and the Doctor belatedly decided that he really ought to remove his coat. Temperature didn't affect him that much, but even the Doctor realized he should make a passing attempt at blending in, and a frock coat in such heat - 36.7°C - was probably just a bit much. Besides, his trousers were already tight again - his frockcoat would be much better served across his lap.

 

It took them most of the long Ikarran afternoon to fully excavate the ruins, including an old doorway that was little more than the mouth to a cave. The Doctor occupied himself rifling through his pockets, toeing through the sand and dirt to scrub free another part of the building's foundation (and absolutely _not_ doing archaeology because that would be preposterous), and failing to not imagine all the ways he could get River out of those maddening shorts.

 

Once Professor Hendricks finally gave the go ahead to explore cave-like interior of the ancient building, the Doctor leapt to his feet, eager for something to do, even though he had a very not good feeling about what this building had once been.

 

River's eyes lit up at the prospect of exploring, but she dawdled dusting her corner of ruins and packing up her tools.

 

The Doctor hovered by the doorway as the other students and professor disappeared within the blackened depths. River's arm shot out and caught him before he could follow, and the Doctor found himself pressed up against the demolished rock wall. "I thought you wanted to solve the curse?"

 

River's smirk was devilishly wicked. "There's nothing to be found through this entrance except more ruins. The old laboratory is two rooms to the left. I'm sure we can manage to stumble upon that entrance and find something interesting before old Hendricks returns."

 

Oh, she was good. Really, very good. They were standing in the ruins of an Ikarran biotechnology facility, and River must have pulled the schematics from some other time. Perhaps she'd been there. From what he remembered of the Ikarrans, he hoped not. The Doctor dug a hand into his coat pocket and emerged with an Ikarran protection pod. "You mean, like this?" River grinned, reaching for it, and the Doctor tossed it to her easily. "It's deactivated, of course. See that it stays that way - we wouldn't want a repeat of the last time one of these was found by _archaeologists_."

 

He'd found it lying around when he'd got her message - on Ikarra, a few millennium previous. Because he'd wanted to see her make the exact impressed face she had on now - not because he'd incorrectly entered the coordinates.

 

River tucked the egg-like biomechanoid into her pack before setting it aside. "You cheated, Doctor," she purred, pressed flushed against him and sounding very pleased indeed.

 

The Doctor tugged at his collar, frozen between River and the wall. "Time travel is not cheating - I was just speeding things along."

 

"Mmm," River purred, the sound throaty in a way that left the Doctor abandoning his frockcoat to the dust as he reached for her and fought back a groan of his own. She was warmth and curves and temptation, her skin sticky with sweat and dirt under his hands as they edged under her vest. "I'm all for speeding things along."

 

Before he had time to puzzle out what River meant by that, she had slid down his body to her knees, cushioned by his coat, her nimble fingers undoing his trousers. The Doctor balked, his hands fumbling through mid-air, torn between dragging her to her feet and stopping the glorious progress of her hands. "River - not - not here. Someone could come back out at any moment."

 

"Exciting, isn't it?"

 

She freed him from his trousers and pants during his moment of indecision, shoving them down his thighs and leaning forward to take his cock in her mouth, rendering the Doctor's response little more than a desperate moan.

                                                                                                                                     

River hummed encouragingly and the Doctor's hands flew to her hair as she swallowed his cock down to the root mercilessly. The sound he made was decidedly higher and less intelligible, and then he was rendered incoherent putty in her hands as River hollowed her cheeks and repeated the motion, sucking down his cock until the tip brushed against the back of her throat. The Doctor made a needy, whimpering sound and bucked up into the delicious wet heat of her mouth. River pinned him against the rough wall with the hand pushing up his shirt, her other sliding down to roll and squeeze his balls.

 

After watching her in that maddeningly miniscule outfit all day and the frottage earlier in the TARDIS, the Doctor found himself quickly brought to the edge of his control by River's talented mouth and flashing eyes. "River," he managed, voice strangled and hands tightening in her hair.

 

He meant it as a warning for her to stop, lest everything end embarrassingly quickly, but River made that pleased humming sound again, and the Doctor's hips jerked up against his will. River pressed him back against the rough stone, hard enough that he could feel it scraping and digging into his bum, but that was a negligible annoyance compared to the feel of River's tongue wrapped around the head of his cock or the blissful slide of her lips down the shaft. The Doctor watched, balls tight and pleasure zinging through his body as River took him all the way into her mouth and swallowed around his cock, her eyes on his the entire time.

 

The Doctor tipped over the edge with a stream of what was probably unintelligible babble -mostly River's name and half-formed odes in her honor - giving himself over to the mindless haze of pleasure that left his body shuddering and legs weak.

 

As soon as he could move any muscles at all, the Doctor tugged River up to her feet, pressing his mouth to hers and stunned, as always, by the sheer magnitude of emotion River inspired him to. Kissing her always left him giddy and soppy and so in love he could barely breathe.

 

Her lips were swollen and she tasted like him, which was enough to send his still racing hearts into overdrive. River moaned appreciatively as his tongue swept through her mouth, her hands running over his body teasingly, even as she rescued his coat and righted his clothing.

 

The Doctor had the opposite idea. He spun them around until River was the one pressed against the rough rock wall, careful to cradle her head in one hand so she didn't bump it. The other he worked between them, unfastening the button and zip to her shorts. The fabric was ridiculously tight - practically painted on - and far too difficult to bother removing. Instead, he worked his fingers under the elastic of River's knickers until his fingertips could slide through her damp curls to nudge at her clit.

 

It was River's turn to keen, the sound muffled by the Doctor's mouth as her hips arched up into his hand.

 

The angle was a bit awkward, quickly leaving his wrist aching as River rocked against him with needy little sounds. River never bothered to keep quiet, especially when she really ought to.

 

The Doctor rotated River until her back was resting against his chest and the angle was better, letting him curve two fingers inside her. He clapped his other hand over River's mouth just in time to muffle another moan as she braced herself against the stone and arched back into him with a shudder.

 

He ground the heel of his palm hard into her clit, rocking his fingers inside her as deep as he could manage despite her restrictive clothing. The Doctor knew River's body far better than he'd ever bothered to learn any of his own, and he took shameless advantage of that, body pressed tight against hers and his fingers curled just so against slick, soft flesh.

 

River whimpered, her teeth biting into his palm - not quite hard enough to draw blood - and the Doctor increased the pressure of his other hand, wanting desperately to make her scream. He dropped his head over her shoulder, pressing hard, open-mouthed kisses against her neck, tasting the sweat and dust that clung to her like perfume. "You like this, don't you, my bad girl?" he murmured between nips and kisses, his voice low and urgent, "Knowing that someone could walk out at any moment and find you pressed up against the wall with my hand down your knickers." He chuckled, feeling her tremble against him, her double-pulse racing. "Did you imagine this, when you invited me here? Or didn't you think I'd be up for it?"

 

It had taken the Doctor a long time to get used to River's filthy mouth and penchant for public indecency. She still made him blush more often than not, but now that he was older, he reveled in his chances to turn it around on her. And he knew from experience that River appreciated his efforts. It was easier like this, when he could hide his flaming cheeks in her hair and growl promises against her skin.

 

She was pressed so gloriously into him, wet and tight around his fingers, that he almost didn't want it to end. He could already feel his own need resurfacing, driven by the high, keening sounds that River was making and the way she ground her bottom against him as she worked herself over his fingers.

 

But he could already hear the faint footsteps and muted voices. River made a strangled sound, coming to the same conclusion, the little circles of her hips growing urgent.

 

"Exciting, isn't it?" the Doctor echoed her earlier words, feeling her body tighten and pulse at the very real danger of being caught out.

 

A practiced twist of his wrist and River shuddered through her release, a lilting scream caught against his skin.

 

They rested against the wall for a respite, the Doctor draped across River while she caught her breath. He withdrew his hands, wiping them on the inside of his coat and ignoring the stinging in his injured palm.

 

"It's certainly turning into a more memorable expedition than I'd imagined," River's voice was scratchy and low, and she cleared her throat before continuing. "If I'd known how much you like to watch, I would have arranged for a chaperone ages ago."

 

She fastened her shorts and caught the Doctor in a brief kiss before they had to part. River straightened the Doctor's clothing and lounged against the rock wall, looking entirely like the cat with the cream.

 

The Doctor let his eyes linger over her, skin flushed and damp, hair wild and untamed, smirking lips swollen, and her tiny shorts and vest exposing enough skin that the Doctor was tempted to drag her back to the TARDIS, despite his earlier protests. "It's hard to keep my eyes off you," he admitted, fingers brushing the hem of her shorts. "Though I wouldn't be opposed to getting these off of you."

 

River laughed, low and sinuous. "Why - are my shorts distracting you, Doctor?" Her eyes sparkled in a way that said she was already certain of the answer.

 

With a groan, the Doctor bopped her nose and tried to restore some distance before he lost all his willpower - again. River was always a terrible influence. "You're distracting me, minx."

 

Before River could respond, one of her classmates returned - a mostly humanoid named Patton - looking dejected as he scuffed at the ground and barely spared them a glance. "Waste of a day's work - it's all caved-in back there."

 

River rescued her pack discretely, - saving the biomechanoid for a properly flashy reveal, undoubtedly - before pushing off the wall and regarding the dig-site attentively. "Well, there has to be another way in, I'd wager. Doesn't that look like there might be another doorway down there to the left - where that smooth patch of rock is?"

 

Patton contemplated the spot River had pointed at - exactly where the laboratory doorway ought to be - before grinning. "You know, I think you might be right. Let's go check it out and maybe Professor Hendricks will approve it for a morning excavation!"

 

"Are you going to come and watch, Professor Smith?" River queried with believable innocence, winking at the Doctor over her shoulder.

 

The Doctor shook his head slowly as he made to follow them, as always, unwilling to resist.

 

Of course, River was right about the doorway. Professor Hendricks was suitably impressed when he finally emerged from the first door, declaring it an early evening and even earlier start the following morning.

 

They made their way back to the expedition's base of operations, a camp of high-tech tents, prepared for every climate and stocked with surprisingly comfy cots and storage crates. The students were all sharing, of course, but the professors and chaperones had their own tents. A fact that the Doctor was more than thankful for when River spent the entirety of supper doing positively obscene things to her utensils with her eyes fixed on him, while he turned red and fidgeted with his bowtie, unable to look away.

 

He was still fidgeting when everyone retired to their respective quarters. He tried to catch River, but she was ensconced in a discussion with two of her classmates as they retreated to their tent. Besides, Professor Hendricks already seemed suspicious of the Doctor's presence - glancing between the Doctor and River several times with an ever deepening scowl.

  
The Doctor tried not to pout as he paced his not-bigger-on-the-inside tent, opening crates and adjusting the sparse furnishings. Finally, he flopped back on the cot, annoyed when there was absolutely no bounciness to it. Was he supposed to sit and _wait_ all night? He contemplated sneaking back to the TARDIS, but he didn't want to leave without seeing River again, and he couldn't think of a viable excuse to both visit the student tent after hours and get River alone.

 

"Hello, sweetie. Take off your clothes."

 

The Doctor jerked upright. River was stood just inside his tent, smirking, still in the same maddeningly tiny outfit as before.

 

He hesitated, listening to the low hum of noise around the camp and thinking that perhaps they'd pushed their luck far enough for one day. "You shouldn't be here."

 

River tsked, sauntering over to the foot of the cot before undoing the zip of her shorts and hooking her thumbs under the band. "Why not? You're here to watch me, aren't you? So watch."

 

She shimmied out of the tight fabric in a way that left the Doctor wanting to cover his eyes with his hands and peek out anyway. Her knickers quickly followed.

 

"Your turn," River purred, arching one eyebrow pointedly and standing there with her hands on her bare hips.

 

The Doctor swallowed back a protest, hurrying to tear off his clothing and nearly popping the buttons on his shirt in his rush. Leaving River Song naked and waiting was an entirely unacceptable choice and, really, he couldn't put up much of a believable protest after this afternoon. Nor did he particularly want to.

 

Her soft laugh was musical as he struggled with his clothing, pieces flying everywhere. He pouted anyway because - as much as he loved her laughter - it was hardly the moment.

 

River shushed him, crawling up on the bed until she was hovering over him, one hand reaching down to fondle his erection. "My, someone is eager. Very _impressive_."

 

It was hard to think with her hand on his cock. "I aim to please," he managed, hands greedily tracing all the newly bared golden skin. He squeezed her bottom reverently before sliding his hands up to shove her vest and sports bra until he freed her breasts, warm and heavy in his hands.

 

"Good, because I intend to be very pleased indeed," River balanced on her knees, her free hand tickling across his chest and sides until he squirmed, while her other worked him over thoroughly enough that he was squirming for entirely prurient reasons.

 

River's body was a work of art - all lean muscles and tanned skin, coupled with the most luscious curves. And she was completely comfortable naked - sometimes a bit too comfortable, as far as the Doctor was concerned. She would go on to inspire the majority of the great Greek artists and poets, and let the Doctor spend hours sketching her, until he thought he could recite the equations of her ratios by memory alone. He could never quite believe his luck; that he got to have River in his arms and bed, despite time itself turned against them.

 

She was so small and soft under his hands, all yearning moans and shivering curves. Dangerous, though, especially this young, when she was still wild and impatient. The look she gave him was proof enough of that - as though she intended to devour him.

 

The Doctor cupped her breasts and teased her nipples, hips bucking into her hand and his breathing already growing stilted in a way that had nothing to do with exertion. "I'm all yours."

 

River's breath hitched, her eyes softening momentarily before she arched a roguish eyebrow. "Oh, now, that is the perfect sentence."

 

He barely had time to catch his breath before River lined them up and sank down onto his cock, taking him into the wet, tight, throbbing heat of her and leaving his eyes rolling back into his head. One of his hands flew to her hips, gripping tightly as River rocked over him, lifting herself up agonizingly slowly before taking him back inside with a quick motion that left them both whimpering in pleasure.

 

River balanced with one delicate hand pressed between his hearts, just hard enough to stop them from jumping out of his skin as they thundered in his ears. She was not even fully undressed, her vest and bra still rucked up and her boots leaving dusty marks on the bed linens.

 

The Doctor bent his knees for better leverage, arching his hips up in counterpoint to River's strokes and relishing the sharp keening noise she made each time he did so, her voice pitching toward a scream.

 

He'd almost forgotten that they needed to be quiet. He shifted one hand to River's hair and dragged her roughly forward until she was sprawled across him, her breasts pressed against his chest and her lips over his. The changed angle left their strokes quicker and more urgent, River's increasingly high moans muffled by their kisses.

 

River's rhythm faltered, and the Doctor held her tightly to him, thrusting roughly until he felt her clench down and shatter around him. River broke their kiss to bury her teeth in his shoulder with a shuddering scream that rolled through her entire body and left the Doctor biting his lip through his own orgasm as he tensed and spilled inside her with a stifled noise.

 

The blinding ecstasy of the moment left everything hazy and dark at the edges, the too-loud beat of their hearts thrumming and echoing in the Doctor's ears.

 

River soothed the bite on his shoulder with an apologetic brush of her lips over the raw, sensitive skin, sending a shiver across the Doctor's nerves. He ran his hands along River's sweat-slicked back and up to brush her curls out of her face. "Pleased?" He bopped her nose.

 

Laughing, River smacked him lightly on the shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Very," and she leaned in to snog him again, languid but thorough, her tongue tracing along his teeth and the roof of his mouth.

 

They parted only reluctantly, and only once their skin had cooled and they were left vaguely sticky and lazy in their satisfaction. River righted her shirt as she kicked off her boots. "I can't stay long," she sighed, regretful. "The excavation starts at dawn."

 

The Doctor tugged her back to bed anyway, wriggling them under the sheets and tucking her head under his. "Just stay with me for a little while, then."

 

Head pillowed over his heart, River was already fast asleep.

 

...

 

It took the university until the morning to verify that the Doctor wasn't actually an employee - let alone a professor - and thus, was not a suitable chaperone.

 

River fell out of his bed laughing when her professor barged into the Doctor's tent to deliver that news and found them sprawled half-naked amongst the covers.

 

Hendricks turned a concerning reddish-purple color before he spun out of the tent.

 

"You'd better go, sweetie," River did up her shorts quickly, tossing the Doctor's trousers at him and looking not the slightest bit concerned that her professor had just caught them in bed together.

 

Hurrying to button up his shirt and tie his own bowtie - too early for River to think to do it for him - the Doctor watched River carefully. "Is - are you going to be all right? You could come with me?"

 

River's smile was dazzling at the offer, but she bit her lip and shook her head. "They're not going to do anything to me - it would be a terrible scandal if word got out that some stranger passed himself off as a chaperone on an offsite dig and took advantage of an unsuspecting student." Her faux virtuousness was so convincingly complete that the Doctor dared not ask whether she planned it this way. "However, I would probably receive a failing mark if I abandoned the expedition midway through a dig." She swayed forward and caught the Doctor by his collar, snogging him quite thoroughly. "Rain check, sweetie?"

 

Hendricks was returning and - judging by the heavy footfalls and angry voices headed their way - it very much sounded as though he was not alone.

 

"Always. See you around, River Song."

 

The Doctor ended up dashing back to the TARDIS in his stocking feet, his coat and his shoes in his arms and River's laughter ringing in his ears.


End file.
